Konoha
The Hatake Clan
Chihane was arranging a room for his newly acquired underling, Chiriku.
Yesterday, shortly after Chihane took Chiriku on as his underling, Orochimaru emerged from the meeting room with Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others.
The Land of Fire's Daimyo had proved too cowardly to give Orochimaru a chance to use his genjutsu mark. The moment he saw Orochimaru, he signed the Hokage's appointment letter.
With their objective achieved, and Chihane unexpectedly gaining an underling to boot, none of them wanted to linger in the Land of Fire's capital.
So they returned to Konoha that very afternoon.
After they returned to the village, Hiruzen Sarutobi announced the date of Orochimaru's inauguration as Hokage.
The ceremony was scheduled for the morning three days later.
The news sent all of Konoha bustling with preparations for the ceremony.
"Chiriku, this will be your room from now on."
"Get up at four every morning to train. At six, go buy breakfast. The rest of the time, just follow me."
Chihane found an empty room and settled Chiriku into it, then explained his daily duties.
Meanwhile, he imagined having Chiriku unleash Welcoming Approach: Thousand-Armed Murder on anyone who came to challenge him.
Then he could tell whoever Chiriku had flattened, You can't even beat my underling, and you think you're worthy of challenging me?
The thought brought a slight smile to Chihane's lips. After all, he now had a bodyguard of his own.
Chiriku's spirits immediately sank at Chihane's instructions. He grumbled inwardly that even a mule on a farming collective wouldn't be worked this hard.
Despite growing up in a temple, Chiriku had rarely seen the sun at four in the morning, let alone gotten up at that hour every single day.
But looking at Chihane, he didn't dare say anything. He